Building Culture and Trust in Business with Dave Coull - In this episode, we explore the essential elements of cultivating a strong organisational culture and leading with authenticity. Dave Coull, CEO of Stage Electrics Group, shares his insights on how culture drives success, the importance of humility, and strategies for building trust at scale—especially during challenging times like a pandemic. This episode offers strong CEO Leadership advice, business advice and some real business advice to any leader.

Main topics covered:

• The role of culture in business success and how to define it
• Strategies for earning and maintaining trust with teams who know more than leaders
• Practical ways to embed core values and reinforce company culture daily
• The impact of leadership transparency and vulnerability
• How to successfully integrate acquired businesses into existing culture
• Challenges and solutions for scaling culture in remote and growing organisations
• Mistakes leaders often make around culture and how to avoid them
• Fostering a safe environment for honest feedback and challenging authority
• The importance of consistent communication and actions over words
• Practical leadership lessons from decades of experience

Timestamps:

00:00 - Welcome and episode overview

02:16 - The core role of culture in organisational success

06:28 - Transitioning into the events and technology sector

09:22 - Building trust through humility and authenticity

12:44 - Leading technical teams without needing to be a technical expert

15:45 - Communicating effectively during COVID-19 and remote onboarding

19:43 - Protecting and evolving existing company culture during acquisitions

23:45 - Defining core values with employee input and ongoing reinforcement

28:58 - Handling cultural integration of new business units

32:04 - The impact of culture on employee engagement and productiveness

36:33 - The importance of continuous communication and transparency

39:39 - Maintaining culture across growing and distributed teams

44:11 - Managing high performers with misaligned values

48:41 - Major mistakes leaders make in shaping company culture

51:11 - Practical steps for honest and transparent leadership

55:20 - Creating an environment where challenging leadership is safe and encouraged

58:43 - Balancing honesty and confidentiality in leadership communication

62:24 - Building a legacy based on developing people and strong culture

65:49 - Final thoughts: leadership as a team enabler and culture creator

66:05 - Rapid-fire: Apple or Android?

66:17 - Preferred social media platform?

66:23 - City or beach getaway?

67:01 - Essential item for travel?

67:08 - Morning or night person?

67:30 - Build new or fix what's broken?

67:50 - Growth or profitability?

68:19 - Best advice ignored?

68:45 - The drink Dave would choose at a pub?

Resources & Links:

• Stage Electrics Group
• Dave Coull personal website

If you enjoyed this episode check out Matt Turners episode on our show

This episode offers actionable leadership principles rooted in decades of experience—timeless lessons for anyone committed to building thriving, resilient organisations.